More than Just a Dream
by LikeTheCoolKids
Summary: Lėja is a young girl who was sent to Cairnholm by her tutor for a project on the second world war. There, she meets girly-girl Aaryn Waters, lovable Annie, kooky Sephtis, and annoying Jonathan. When John is taking them on a tour of his island, the five accidentaly stumble apon a time loop on the verge of breaking. They go to greet a group of strange children- and the bomb lands.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One- One Hell of a Trip**

The fog stung my cheeks and the tip of my nose. Black waves rocked the boat, churning my stomach and giving me the feeling that I would fall off at any second. I focused on breathing and tried to focus on something that wasn't rocking with me- a trick Nana had taught me for motion sickness. My gaze fell to the water and I noticed a greenish ghost below the water. I tried to make out the shape, but it was too far down for me to make out. It was only after we passed a few more that I realized what they were- shipwrecks.

I shouldn't've been very surprised. Nana had told me this was a popular place for U-boats during the second world war. Still, looking down at the broken carcasses of the ships, I couldn't help but feel my stomach tighten a bit.

I laid on one of the wooden benches, closing my eyes and trying to ignore the rancid smell of mildew and saltwater that emanated from the rotten, moldy cushion I was resting on. I hoped the three hours on a train and two days on a ferry would be worth the trouble. Nana had told me I had to go to an old war sight this summer as part of my history lessons. I could either go with my parents to some preserved concentration camp, or I could go by my self to Cairnholm Island. When she said this, I thought going to a little marshy island without supervision would be much more fun than going to a monument to despair with it, but now, more than a hundred kilometres away from civilization, with sea sickness and a god-awful headache, I was beginning to have second thoughts.

"LAND HO!" came a loud shout from higher on the ferry. I groaned and sat up slowly, cradling my head in my right hand. I looked around, scanning the faces of the other crazy tourists who thought this had been a good idea. There was a blond man with a round face and squinty eyes next two a very short brown-haired woman with a very narrow face and a pouty expression. They were watching a blond girl about my age, who was looking over the side of the boat with her hair hanging in her eyes. I could tell just from the way she stood and the clothes she wore that she was bubbly, sweet, and absolutely awful. My gaze drifted to a slim, ruddy-haired girl with high cheekbones and a splatter of freckles across her nose and a beautiful young Latino woman. They were smiling and talking animatedly, the Latino woman using her hands a lot as she spoke, the girl laughing and beaming. Not very far away from them was a very uncomfortable-looking boy with curly black hair, dark skin, and a strong jaw. Next to him was a middle-aged man who looked almost exactly like the boy, but with a slight beard and very pronounced cheekbones. He looked like a Bollywood actor, except he was dressed in a coffee-stained shirt and ripped brown pants. No self-respecting millionaire would dress like that.

Then I looked at the front of the boat. At first, I thought the lookout must've been out of his mind. All I could see was the rolling ocean and the increasingly thick fog. But I did make out a awkward dark shape on the horizon, and the harder I looked, the clearer it became. I made out huge rocky cliffs, a thick dark forest, and tiny little white things that must've been houses.

I realized, with increasing dread, that _this_ was Cairnholm Island.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two- Cairnholm!**

I gazed up at the towering cliffs and wondered how in the heavens we were meant to get up to the top. I had just started to reach the conclusion that we were going to have to climb up when the boat turned. The cliffs dropped steeply until they met the water, where a sort of harbor had been built. Before long, the boat was bonking on the side of the pier and a crew member was telling us to watch our steps as we got off.

I swung my bag over my shoulder and gingerly stepped off the boat onto the wet, creaky wood. I thought I was fine until I put my other foot on the pier and my knees buckled. I probably would've fallen into the bay if someone hadn't caught me, but that didn't keep my top hat from going. I looked into the water and saw that my hat had become a bobbing black lump of ruined silk. It would never be useable again.

My rescuer steadied me up on my feet. I turned around and saw the dark skinned boy, his hands stuffed into his pockets and his teeth biting down on his lip in a poor attempt at concealing a smile. "Ewe alright?" he said, and I immediately noticed his welsh accent.

"Fine," I muttered as I frowned into the water. "I liked that 'at."

The boy laughed and started walking down the pier. I hesitated for a bit, then went after him.

The boy glanced back and said. "So, wut brings ewe to Cairnholm, miss..."

"Lėja," I mumbled.

"Lėja," he mused. "Odd name fer a Cocknay."

"Liverpool," I corrected. "and my parents are Lithuanian."

He raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"I'm 'ere ta study," I explained, "My teacher sent me 'ere ta learn 'bout the war. What 'bout you? Why're you 'ere?"

"My pap," he said, "He's a novelist. Wanted teh learn about life on Cairnholm. He's writin' some sorta book."

We walked in silence for a bit. Then he said, "Where're ewe stayin'?"

"My mudder found this place call'd de Priest 'Ole," I replied, "Only room ta let on the blinkin' island."

"Hmm," said the boy. "I think I was gonna be stayin' at a place called the Priest Hole."

"Erm..." I mumbled dubiously, "It's only one room. Either we're gonna share, or yer wrong."

"No, I'm right," he frowned, "Or maybe we're both wrong."

"Nar," I muttered under my breath, "Mam said I was ta stay at de Priest 'Ole."

The boy glanced up at one of the signs on the building. "This is it," he said, and he held the door for me while I walked in.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three- No Room to Let**

The inside of the priest hole was dark and dank. The ceiling was no more than a foot about my head, and I stood at 5'10" in heels. This first level was clearly a pub, because there was a bar and five rickety tables, each with four rickety chairs. small leaded windows let in enough light that you wouldn't trip over yourself when trying to get to the beer tap, which, judging by the attitude of the men in the bar, still happened often. Everyone was bent morosely over their beer mugs as though they were praying. There was a narrow staircase towards the back of the room, which I assumed lead to the rooms. We went to the bar, where the rest of the tourists (including the boy's father) were standing, arguing with the bartender.

"Kev, this is nonsense!" hissed the Latino woman. "We came here with children expecting room to let and when we come in we here you say it isn't?"

"I told you, Maria," the bartender, who I guessed was Kev, sounded exasperated. "It's already spoken for!"

"By whom?" growled the squinty-eyed man from the boat. "I was promised available room. How do you expect my daughter to rest if she doesn't have a bed to sleep in?"

"That gentleman over there," said Kev, pointing towards the back of the pub to a salt-an-pepper haired man bent over a computer, "and his son, who I'm afraid is out for the moment."

"This is ridiculous!" shrieked the pouty-faced woman. "Ridiculous! Where are we supposed to sleep, outside?"

The boy tapped his father's shoulder and whispered something in his ear. The older man smiled. "Good idea, Debra. I think my son and I _will_ just sleep outside, if you don't mind, Kev."

Kev looked astounded, but he shook his head. "No, I don't. You can stay in the backyard if you want."

"Thank you." said the boy's father. He turned to the rest of us. "You may join us, if you'd like." than he started to walk away, the Maria, the ruddy-haired girl, the boy, and myself following behind.

* * *

The backyard Kev had referred to was more of a smallish square of dirt and sparse grass with a rather pathetic-looking garden in one corner and a steep drop-off behind a rotting wooden fence on the far end. There was enough room for the five of us to lay out our bedrolls at a comfortable distance for each other and a bit of space for a few belongings to be out at a time. Maria hadn't thought to bring any sort of thing to sleep in, and so she went off to the general store to get a sleeping bag. Kev had said that the generators turned off at ten, so he gave us some oil lamps and pointed out the outhouse concealed in the mangled garden, saying that the pub had no indoor plumbing besides the sink he used to was off dirty dishes. When the ruddy girl asked how we were supposed to bathe, Kev simply replied there was a well at the end of the road. Whether he meant that he wanted us to jump in and stop causing him so much trouble, or if it was simply that we were to take the water and bathe in that, I was not sure. Hopefully the latter- I did not want to be staying on the property of someone who wished us to be dead.

It was nine o' clock, and we were all tired but the cold had increased drastically since the sun had gone down, and the fog was nipping our toes, and combined with the strange sounds coming out of the forest, they were a formula for insomnia.

The ruddy girl suggested we play a game, but since the guys claimed they were "too mature", it ended up being just the two of us. We didn't mind- the less people who knew the trick, the more fun the game- or so I was soon to find out.

"Okay, so here's how it works," she whispered to me, "You say one word with a double-le'er in it, than say 'bu' not'. Then you say something that has to do with the same thing that _doesn't_ have a double le'er. Then I say something with a double le'er in it that starts with the same le'er that your second word ends with, and I start the pa'ern again. If one of the guys can guess what we're doing, they get to join."

"Wut?" I whispered back, and she sighed.

"I'll show you," she muttered, and then she said lowdly, "Pillows, bu' nay cushions." then she bent back down and hissed, "Now you say a word that starts with 's' and has a double le'er in it."

"Oh, I get it!" I whispered, then said slightly louder, "Silly, but not pesky."

"Yellow, bu' nay red."

"Dandruff, but not dust."

"Tabbies, bu' nay siamese."

"Earmuffs, but not headphones."

"Okay," cut in the boy who had saved me from falling into the bay, "let me see if I can figure out what it is you two are doing."

The girl winked at me, and continued the game. "Swallows, bu' nay doves."

"Saddle, but not bridle."

"Edgeless, bu' nay infinite."

"Employee, but not worker."

"Raccoon, bu' nay fox."

I scrunched up my nose, but I couldn't think of any words starting with X with a double letter in them.

I knocked on the ground instinctivly, and the other girl laughed. "Ha! Gotchu!"

"So I'm never gonna be able to guess it, then?" said the boy.

"Maybe next time we play." said the girl. "How 'bout we play two truths and a lie?"

We agreed. She didn't need to explain this one to us- we had played it before.

The ruddy girl went first. "Me full name is Antoinette Rosemarie O'Cullen-Durand. I'm an orphan. Maria is me half sister."

"She's not your half sister," the boy and I said in unison, the only difference in how we said it our accents.

"Yeah," said Antoinette.

"Oh, Antoinette, I'm so sorry." said the boy. He pronounced he name an-TOE-net.

"Call me Annie," said Annie, "And you aught'nt apologize for something you didn't have anything to do with! I never knew them, anyway. Me daddy went off to war 'afore I was born, and me mum died givin' birth to me. Maria found me a few months la'er, livin' with an ol' la'y who fed me th' cream she gave 'er cats. The day Maria found me, that's the day I consider me birthday."

The boy went next. "My name is Harold Snitzburry Wagner III. My dad is a history writer and he's here to learn about the war. When I first met yew," he pointed at me, "I thought yew where something my seasick mind had conjured up."

I thought about this before. The fact he thought I was a vision was probably just from my clothes. I probably looked like something straight out of some video game. Or maybe the fact that a lone teenager had come to a island so small it wasn't on the map seemingly by choice. So that one was most likely true. His father didn't look much like a man whose last name was Wagner, and Snitzburry wasn't exactly a reasonable name, either, but it was difficult to tell what profession his father was. For all I knew, he could be butler. No, not a butler- his clothes were too worn. A police officer, perhaps. Or an off-duty circus clown.

Annie insisted that his father wasn't a writer, and he looked so pleased with himself that I decided to take a risk. "Yer name is just as likely to be Harold Snitzburry Wagner as it is to be me mum's."

The boy's smile faded. "Yeh. My name's actually Septhis. I'm a bit surprised that it took so long for one of you to get that."

Annie grinned warmly and Sephtis chuckled. I rolled my eyes and began. "I am _not_ on drugs. Nana sometimes calls me a "Wilting Flower", which I hate. I secretly have emotions."

Annie immediately answered, "I bet me bum you have never been called any kind of flower your entire life." Septhis took a while longer to answer, but a crooked smile lit up his eyes with mischevious light, and I knew he was going to say something a bit rude. After quite a long time, I finally waved my hand in front of his face. "Helloooo? Anyone home?"

He sat up so abruptly that both Annie and I jumped. He looked almost insane now, his teeth gleaming almost as much as his eyes, which seemed to collect all of the light from the moon and the stars and direct it at me. "No way yew ain't on drugs. We've both seen the way you dress."

I felt my face go bright red, and my hands clenched into fists where they were folded in my lap. "Is that supposed to be funny?"

Septhis smile widened. "Isn't it?"

My hands were balled up so tight that I felt my fingernails digging into my palms. "Not really, no."

His smile drooped a bit as he looked between me, my brow furrowed with rage, and Annie, who was looking at the garden, at the sky, at the ground- anything but us. He seemed to realize the full impact of what he'd just said, and his smile vanished completely. "Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I know what you meant." I said deeply, my voice quavering a bit as I stood up. "I'm going to bed now." I stalked away, feeling the cold hard stares of the boy who I thought was my friend.


	4. Chapter 4

**N/A Hey guys! I just realized that there where some major continuity errors in the last chapter and I hope you will not tease me about that too much. I'll focus on not doing it in the future. also my keyboard is being kind of weird, so if you see the wrong symbol/punctuation mark, ignore it. I'm starting to get used to it, though!**

**Chapter Four: Eavesdropping**

I lay in my roll for a little while pretending to be asleep. I've always been oddly good at pretending to be something I'm not. It is not good honesty-wise, but sometimes it is very useful. For instance, when you're trying to listen to a conversation between two people trying not to be heard.

"Is she asleep?" whispered Annie.

"Sure she is. It's been long enough." came Sephtis' reply.

"Okay," Annie said a little louder, "The others are too. Now, we need to talk."

"About what?"

"Stuff."

"What stuff?" Sephtis asked innocently.

"Responding to a playful joke with a rude one."

"Oh, that?" I detected a hint of sarcasm in Sephtis' voice.

"Yes." Annie took a breath. "You may not have meant it to be rude. But the girl, whatever-her-name-is-"

"Lėja. I guess she never told you."

He was right. I never _had_ told her.

"Right. Well, she seems like a very nice girl. And she looks tough, but she's still a human being. And she has emotions."

"Like she said..."

"Yeah. Like she said. And-"

"And I'm guessing by the way she reacted that she's not on drugs at all."

"Yes, but that's not the-"

"But by saying that, she sort of set herself up for the takedown, don't you think?"

"Absolutely, but-"

"I mean, she should've been ready for that. Don't you think? Because it was likely that one of us would either say she had no emotions or-"

"HEY! Would you shut up and just LISTEN to me?" Annie growled, loud enough to make the sleeping adults moan and shift in their sleep. I took the opportunity to flip over and face them. My eyes were wide open, but, in the darkness, it wasn't likely that thy could see. "You need to be very careful around others. Some people are much more sensitive than they'd like to admit, and-"

"It's good to know that you support her."

"I do support her. I'm just- I'm just really bad at explaining things, alright?"

"Mm."

"Do ya know what I mean?"

"Mm."

"Good." With that, Annie went off to her roll next to mine. Sephtis just sat for a bit, staring over the cliff. After a while, he checked to see if Annie was asleep. He listened to her breathing, stared at her closed eyelids to see if they were moving- the works. Then he walked over to me.

"Good night, wilting flower. And next time, try to come up with a lie." Then he went across the yard, leaving me to wonder how he knew that it was true.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five- Sweet dreams**

_There was a hole,_

_In the middle of the ground,_

_The prettiest hole_

_That you ever did see..._

A nursery song. I remember learning it in school, before the incident, before we had Nana. Before the dark man came.

It was a pleasant song, mostly, but the way it was being sung was awful. It was quiet and echoey, and a raspy little girl who's voice was being repeated many times was singing it slowly. It reminded me of a horror game, almost. It made me shiver.

_And the hole in the ground,_

_And the green grass grows all around, all around,_

_And the green grass grows all around._

The voice sounded oddly familiar, and the shivering was getting worse. It was cold, and I saw a hunched silhouette. He looked at me, and my vision was lit briefly enough to show me a glimpse of him. But where he should've been was just a shadow and a mass of tentacles.

_And in that hole,_

_There was a tree,_

_The prettiest tree_

_That you ever did see._

_And the tree in the hole,_

_And the hole in the ground,_

_And the green grass grows all around, all around,_

_And the green grass grows all around._

The voice was clearer, now. The echoes were the voices of other children, boys and girls and an adult woman, but the loudest one, the husky-voiced girl, was the clearest. She had a Liverpool accent.

_And on this tree,_

_There was a branch,_

_The prettiest branch_

_That you ever did see._

Images flashed by as the children sang, echoing and whispering, the sound creepy and beautiful at the same time. A strange man in with a beard, wearing a hat and sun glasses, which he removed to reveal blank white eyes. A pale, half-eaten gentleman in bedclothes being washed by waves. A shadow that, with a flash of lightning, was revealed to be a man with a rotting face and dark tentacle tongues.

_And the branch on the tree,_

_And the tree in the hole,_

_And the hole in the ground,_

_And the green grass grows all around, all around,_

_And the green grass grows all around._

An empty playground, rusty and gray with fog, swings still swinging as though ghost children were playing on them. A dark classroom with the crumpled shapes of adults and small children piled against the walls. A dark tongue stretching out towards a sobbing child huddled in the corner.

_And on this branch,_

_There was a nest,_

_The prettiest nest_

_That you ever did see._

_And the nest on the branch,_

_And the branch on the tree,_

_And the tree in the hole,_

_And the hole in the ground,_

_And the green grass grows all around, all around,_

_And the green grass grows all around._

The empty shell of a house, being swallowed by plants. Creepy old photographs of a levitating girl, a staring boy playing with lifeless dolls, and ballerinas in masks, feeding each other ribbon. A laugh so long and evil that it made me shiver all over. A child's scream as blood splattered on a wall.

_And in this nest,_

_There was an egg,_

_The prettiest egg_

_That you ever did see._

_And the egg in the nest,_

_And the nest on the branch,_

_And the branch on the tree,_

_And the tree in the hole,_

_And the hole in the ground,_

_And the green grass grows all around, all around, _

_And the green grass grows all around._

A schoolhouse surrounded by yellow tape. Screams as the voices are cut off, on by one. A little ash-haired girl in pigtails, rocking back in forth, singing the song by herself.

_And on this egg,_

_There was a bird,_

_The prettiest bird_

_That you ever did see._

_And the bird on the egg,_

_And the egg in the nest,_

_And the nest on the branch,_

_And the branch on the tree,_

_And the tree in the hole,_

_And the hole in the ground,_

_And the green grass grows all around all around,_

And suddenly everything comes back to me. I see a beautiful young woman writing the song on the board. An announcement declares that there's a secure campus. A man with white eyes comes into the class and tells us it's fine. He introduces us to his friends. Hollowghasts, he calls them. As he steps aside, there are only shadows. But when they open their mouths...

_And the green grass grows all around._

I scream as one of the tongues wraps around my ankle.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six- Why am I not dead yet?**

I woke up dangling off of a cliff. I hiccuped, which I think was the result of me screaming and coughing at the same time. It was freezing cold, and I was soaked and dripping. My feet were bare, and I was wearing only an old-fashioned white nightgown. I realized with dread that my sleeping bag had fallen off, and that it was the lumpy thing at the foot of the cliff.

Great. My last top hat was in there.

I shivered and wondered for the first time why I wasn't down there with my sleeping bag, cold and wet and dead. I looked at my arm and saw Sephtis there, holding on with both hands. Further over, Maria and the boy's father were pulling Annie up onto the yard. I wanted to show Sephtis that I forgave him, but looking up at him meant looking into the rain, and it stung my eyes. Plus, the rain was making everything slippery, and, me being a light girl, that combined with the vicious wind meant that he was loosing his grip, and fast.

I did my best not to panic, but the rain blurred my vision and made it difficult for me to find something to hold onto until the others came. I flailed wildly with my other arm, which made Sephtis shout something at me. I don't know what it was exactly that he said, but probably it wasn't very nice. It didn't matter, anyway, because I had found what I was looking for. I stretched my hand out further and grabbed onto the tiny ledge of rock.

It wasn't much, but I managed to pull myself up a bit, which meant I now had a largish place that, if I bent my knees enough, I could get on to. I struggled onto it, and immediately noted that it had been a bad idea. The rock was terribly slippery. I slipped and fell, and I knew that the sudden weight would be too difficult for any teenaged boy to deal with. I closed my eyes and choked back a sob.

_This is it,_ I thought, _this is the end. I'm going to fall down those forty feet below me and I'm either going to impale myself on a rock or crack my scull open, and that'll be the last anyone ever hears of me. I should probably think of something to say..._

"Why am I not dead yet?" was what came out. I had been planning to say something for Nana and Mum and Dad to hear and remember me by, but that was what I had been thinking and that was what I ended up saying.

I realized, as I began to be slowly lifted, that his father had grabbed onto Sephtis' ankles, and it wasn't a moment too soon for me. I was being dragged up by my wrists, which I've got to say was not terribly comfortable, but the other option was be far worse, so I didn't complain. It wasn't long before I was back on solid ground.

"Are you okay?" shouted Maria. Annie was cuddled against her, staring into space.

I was shaking all over, but I nodded. "We should go inside!" I replied.


End file.
